Gaston Acurio

Meet The New Star Chef Everyone's Talking About

Who would have predicted that they could make this happen with raw fish, seaweed and wasabi as the main flavors? Yet now you see small children eating sushi all over the world. If the Japanese could do it, we can too.

Gaston Acurio owns 28 restaurants, carrying the banner of Peruvian cuisine across South America, Spain and the U.S. He’s a TV star and best-selling author, and revered by Peruvians for inspiring pride in their traditional recipes and street-food culture. He’s also best buds with that other superstar chef, Spaniard Ferran Adrià. Luckily, we knew nothing of this when, through connections, we finagled a Friday-night reservation recently at La Mar Cebichería Peruana in San Francisco — because it meant we could enjoy Acurio’s cooking without his stellar resume influencing our first impressions.La Mar serves an upscale crowd on a trendy bayside stretch of the Embarcadero, yet Acurio’s menu of 100% sustainably caught fish and shellfish feels homespun, like the food is coming out of his, or his grandmother’s, own kitchen. Later, during our interview, Chef Acurio had this to say about favorite foods and restaurant tips, and his dream of seeing cebiche (Peruvian raw fish dishes) become the most successful global food export since sushi.AskMen (AM): You’ve been called the Peruvian Wolfgang Puck and Jamie Oliver of the Andes. Ferran Adrià has said “God has spoken — the future of gastronomy is being cooked up in Peru,” referring to you.Gaston Acurio (GA): Here in Peru, chefs are kind of ambassadors of our culture; we’re trying to represent our country worldwide with what we have. We also understand cooking as a tool to effect change, that food can empower people. Coming from a country where we find huge natural riches but we have many social contradictions, we’re using food power to try to help unite our nation in a dream of development.AM: What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?GA: It was from a street vendor selling anticuchos [Peruvian brochettes] in Lima. For the last 30 years she never felt important. We put her on TV so people could understand street food is part of the story of Lima — just as in New York, you expect to find hot dog vendors on the street, or in Paris it’s crepes. Well, she’s gained customers and said she feels like an icon of our culture. That’s everything to me.

Peruvian food: The next Japanese

AM: Tell me about your belief that Peruvian food has the potential to be exported as a global brand.GA: We were trained over the last 200 years to think of ourselves as importing culture and exporting commodities. With food, we’re proving that this doesn’t have to be the case; we can invent, create and gift to the world what we are. Ninety percent of Peruvian export brands this year were restaurants, so every chef right now can dream of one day conquering the world with what they’re doing.AM: Who are your role models?GA: Thirty-five years ago or so, Japanese decided they could build their cuisine into a brand and promote their country with sushi bars. Who would have predicted that they could make this happen with raw fish, seaweed and wasabi as the main flavors? Yet now you see small children eating sushi all over the world. If the Japanese could do it, we can too.AM: What else do Peruvians eat, apart from cebiche?GA: We have anticucherías [barbecue restaurants], pollerías [roast chicken eateries], chifas and Nikkei [Peruvian-Chinese and Japanese cuisine], cocina novoandina [New Andean cuisine], cocina criolla [traditional cooking from the coasts], picanterías [Arequipa-style eateries], and Peruvian sandwiches. Any of these as exports would help Peru brand itself and develop the economy.AM: What is it about cebiche that resonates with diners around the world?GA: When you want to sell something you have to believe in it. Cebiche is Peruvians’ most important dish. It’s kind of our new national pride, our flag; we feel that it’s ours. We invented this place to eat it called the cebicheria, where you find light, bright, tasty, fresh food that’s connected with nature but in an atmosphere of fine dining.